Museveni speaks out on chaos during NRM primaries

President Museveni has condemned the chaos exhibited during the just concluded NRM elections to pick the party flagbearers in the forthcoming parliamentary election.

In several parts of the country, there were ugly scenes including bloodshed during the primaries on Friday as several candidates protested against the outcome of the polls.

Speaking about the elections, the NRM national party chairman described as shallow, people who resort to such schemes to steal the power of the people.

“These do the following; bribing, intimidation, altering declaration forms, even attacking and injuring people, using the underage to vote, importing voters from other areas etc. These are all shallow schemes that are easy to expose. The real thing is what happened in the village. 200 legitimate voters lined behind candidate “A” and 100 lined behind candidate “B”. Similar exercises happened in the 606 villages of Luwero district, for instance. The elections are finished,”Museveni said on Saturday.

He insisted that it is an exercise in futility for anybody to change the declaration forms that are in the actual sense not found in the villages where elections have taken place.

Museveni warned that anyone involved in such a schemes commits a crime and is liable to be sentenced to between three and five years’ imprisonment.

“This crime is easy to prove because in the example of the village X we used, there are 300 witnesses – the 200 that voted for A and 100 that voted for B. Therefore, the aggrieved candidates, get facts from a sample of villages from your village agents, who must speak truthfully otherwise they will also be charged with aiding and abetting a fraud as well as making false declarations, the Police will cross-check and criminal proceedings will be initiated,” the NRM national chairman said.

“We should not allow crooks to pollute our massive force that you saw yesterday. I am not Tanga Odoi but my entering from the criminal side, which is my constitutional duty as President, will help Tanga Odoi. Help us with the facts.”

President Museveni however congratulated NRM party members for the massive turn-up during the election arguing that they showed the world what democracy means.

Violence

In several parts of the country, there were clashes between supporters of the various candidates and in some incidents; a number of them were injured.

In Rushenyi county, the State Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Mwesigwa Rukutana shot and injured some people, as well as damaging a vehicle of his opponent.

Following his defeat to Naome Kabasharira, Rukutana turned chaotic and in the scuffle, he grabbed a gun from one of his bodyguards and shot two people who were rushed to hospital in critical condition.

He has since been arrested and charged with attempted murder by shooting, inciting violence and malicious damage.